


For The Sake of a Possible Future

by CarthagoDelenda



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Dangan Ronpa Another Episode Elements, Future Foundation, Gen, post- Dangan Ronpa IF AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 14:19:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4103992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarthagoDelenda/pseuds/CarthagoDelenda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She couldn’t let herself get carried away by this, not when it would just distract her from the job she had to do. Every one of them had someone at stake (other than Ikusaba, of course), and every one of them had the same job to do with the same emotions in mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For The Sake of a Possible Future

**Author's Note:**

  * For [QwertysHuman (FormerlyRandomLurker)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FormerlyRandomLurker/gifts).



> This fic was a commission for qwertyshuman! I really hope you enjoy it. :D
> 
> The request was for a fic involving Ishimaru and Asahina working together. So here is what resulted: a post-Dangan Ronpa IF AU in which the DR1 cast has joined the Future Foundation and are now freeing their friends and relatives. Contains elements from DRIF and Dangan Ronpa Another Episode.

Asahina was just about to log the apartment as empty when she saw the Monobear unit in the corner of her vision.  

It wasn’t that she was scared of them. She really wasn’t. But even after years of conditioning her reflexes to work under pressure, the shock of seeing something she hadn’t expected still sent a chill down her spine, even if it didn’t make her jump or yell or run back or anything else her body was telling her to do.

Instead, there was only a split second’s delay before she pulled the megaphone to her lips.  

 _“BREAK!”_  she yelled on instinct - just as Ishimaru leapt in from the apartment bathroom, skidding across the tile floor as he pulled out his own megaphone.  _“PARALYZE!”_  he shouted, aiming right at the red-eye weak spot.

The Monobear unit took the BREAK to the chest, while the PARALYZE perfectly hit is mark. It flew onto its backside, its legs kicking up and down in the air, moving more and more slowly as its systems ground to a halt.

Asahina couldn’t think of a more inappropriate time to laugh, but she had to stop herself from doing it as she looked down at the Monobear. Had she really been so worked up over a simple Monobear? She’d disabled dozens - no, hundreds of them over the past few months, in search-and-rescue missions just like this one. So it couldn’t be just that, even if it was odd to find a lone Monobear in an empty room. Was it her nerves? Was it her fear, or her anticipation? Or was it -

“Asahina-kun!”

“Huh?” Asahina turned to find Ishimaru bowed so low she could practically see the hairs on the back of his neck. “What are-”

“I apologize for not being as thorough in my search as I should have been!” Ishimaru shouted over her. “I had believed the apartment was empty, and I did not consider that the Monobear might have tried to hide itself from me-”

“Hey, no, stop.” Asahina held her hand up to emphasize her words, though she wasn’t sure Ishimaru could see. “I thought the place was empty too.“

Ishimaru was still for a second, then slowly pulled himself back up to his full height. Even then “But even if we were both unaware,” he said, “if it had caught us off guard…”

Asahina couldn’t find it in her to agree with him directly, as much as she knew he was right. “Well, it didn’t,” Asahina said, pulling a smile on her face. “We beat it! Just like…” She pulled her microphone up, and swung it near the now-motionless Monobear. “Pow! Just like that!”

She grinned at Ishimaru. There was definitely a smile on his face for a second - but it wasn’t one that lasted long. He clipped his megaphone back onto his belt, and turned back for the apartment door. “We need to move to the next room,” he said. “Did you see any updates?”

“I…didn’t have any time to check,” Asahina said. “I’ll look. And I should log the room as empty, anyway. I was about to, before -”

She took one look at Ishimaru’s face and decided the subject was too sore to press. Instead, she relaxed her death-grip on her mission-standard communicator and held it back up to her face.

The field info app was just one of the many advantages that Fujisaki had brought to the 14th Division, designed around the necessity of fast, clear information delivery in tight situations. The display opened on a map of the third floor, which showed all 20 of the apartment units - one empty, nineteen more still to open up. She tapped one of them. Eighteen more.

Then, to answer Ishimaru’s question, she swiped across to the portraits. Three of them - Naegi’s sister, Hagakure’s mother, and Maizono’s idol group member - were marked with green circles, meaning they’d been logged by the other units as safely rescued. The other eleven weren’t marked at all, meaning they had yet to be found.

Including Takaaki Ishimaru…and including Yuuta-kun. Asahina’s heart gave an unpleasant twinge just looking at his picture and not knowing yet if her brother was dead or alive.

“There’s nothing new,” she said, closing it up. “Let’s go.”

====

They said very little as they investigated the next several rooms. All were just as frustrating to disable the locks on, and all were just as easy to mark as empty. 303. 304. 305. 306. With six floors, and twenty rooms to a floor, of course most of them would be.

But that didn’t stop Asahina from wondering just what they’d find, if they found something. Fujisaki had said there were still fourteen heat signatures inside the building, but anything could have happened between then and now…

No. She couldn’t let herself get carried away by this, not when it would just distract her from the job she had to do. Every one of them had someone at stake (other than Ikusaba, of course), and every one of them had the same job to do with the same emotions in mind.

Ishimaru, though. Ishimaru must’ve asked about the mission status because he wanted to know about his dad, but right now she couldn’t see any sign of that affecting him. Beyond the hiccup in 302 he was moving with uncanny speed and precision, hardly stopping to talk any more, unless it was to say “The kitchen is secure!” or “We’re past the third lock!”

But she wished he would. Not because she had to be concerned about him, but because it would be nice to have someone she could bounce off, too.  Someone who was also trying to channel their drive into passion.

307\. Ishimaru was poised at the door, ready to press the unlock device to the doorknob. Asahina hesitated for a second, not knowing what to do with her hands. Should she suggest moving on to the next? Should she get her megaphone at the ready? She settled on the megaphone, waiting poised at the door.

But she’d forgotten to find something to do with her words. “You know he’s going to be okay, right?”

Ishimaru froze, then turned sharply to fix her with a look of confusion. “Your dad, I mean,” Asahina went on. “Don’t…you don’t have to…”

“Asahina-kun…” Ishimaru pulled his hand off the doorknob, and stood immediately up to her level. “These are not the kind of thoughts you should be having right now!”

“Yeah, I know.” Asahina shook her head. “Forget I said anything-”

“Don’t you have faith in our classmates?” he went on. “They’re all fighting the same battles we are, and they’ve already accomplished the impossible! For the sake of their faith in us -” He pointed over at her communicator. “Every one of them must be found alive!”

His volume had risen to fill the hallway, and it echoed as he posed, confidence evident in every inch of his bearing. Almost as if he were the same inside as he was outside. There was no logical reason for it at all… but Asahina almost felt calmer, then, than she had before.

“I do,” she said. “I know they’re doing everything they can. And, I have faith in us too, y’know?”

She smiled, and Ishimaru looked buoyed as well. But before he could say anything else, he paused, and turned his head slightly. Asahina realized then that there’d been a muffled, repetitive noise hidden behind Ishimaru’s shouts, and now that she was focusing on it she could hear it clearly.

“Hey! HEY!”

Asahina’s blood ran could at the sound of the voice. It was one she’d feared she’d never hear again, and for the first few seconds she didn’t know what to make of it. It was followed by several sharp raps from down the hall - and then it sounded again, louder this time. “Hey! What’s going on out there?”

“Yuuta,” Asahina said to herself, then whirled on 308 - from which the yelling was coming - and ran for it at top speed. “YUUTA-KUN!”

“Huh-?!” Yuuta was muffled by several inches of wood, but she’d know him anywhere. Chances were he was just as surprised as she was. “Nee-san? How did you-”

“I’ll explain later. We’re here to get you out!” Asahina reached instinctively into her pocket for the unlock device, only to find it gone. No matter - of course Ishimaru had it, and she could get it right back from him. She was too happy now for anything to go wrong. “I need a second to get the door - just, hold on, for a sec. Ishimaru-”

“ASAHINA-KUN!”

She turned back, not even expecting the worst. She found Ishimaru looking back at her, with a look of shock and amazement on his face - and standing right in front of him, right  the open doorway, was the most haggard and confused-looking older clone of Ishimaru that she had ever seen in her life.

====

Within the next five minutes, Yuuta was free - and hardly looked all the worse for wear, though he’d long outgrown his shoes. A second’s greeting and embrace weren’t nearly enough to make up for the years they’d lost, but it’d have to do until the end of the mission.

In a few hours’ time, when they got back to the main compound with fourteen extra souls in tow, they’d be able to reconnect properly, and so would everyone else. The parents, the siblings, the friends and the pets and the butlers and the band members… They could all say, in their own ways, just how it felt to know that even in a world in the depths of despair, by some stroke of luck they still had some part of the world they’d once known to connect with.

(And even if Ikusaba would have to stand alone, with her only known living relative as a curse on everyone else’s tongues,  maybe someone would extend a hand to her, allow her to share in their happiness. Maybe it would even be Asahina.)

She’d just have to wait, to see what happened next, because for now this moment was only a premonition of things to come. Right now she was running down the hall, with Yuuta-kun behind her and the Ishimarus on either side, deflecting their questions and attempting to make her mission take precedence over her euphoria.  

There were still seven of them missing, and until every one of them was found, the best they could do was to mark the green circles that would let the rest of their team know that their faith in them had been well rewarded.  


End file.
